No Smith, no problem, coach maintains

Caroline Smith was the scoringest soccer player in Kansas University history, but her four years are up and it's time for the Jayhawks to move on.

"She was a great player," KU coach Mark Francis said of Smith, who scored a school-record 51 career goals, "but I think we'll be fine."

Francis is optimistic about 2006, in part, because he still has Holly Gault, a three-time All-Big 12 honoree who has been as good on defense as Smith was on offense.

Now, with Smith's eligibility expired, Francis has shifted Gault, a Spring Hill product, to offense, where she isn't likely to be a fish out of water. Even while playing defense last season, Gault had four goals and six assists.

Moving Gault to offense wasn't a case, Francis stressed, of robbing Peter to pay Paul, saying: "We're very deep at defender so we'll be all right there."